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Released by: Camera Obscura
Released on: 1/31/2011
Director: Bruno Mattei
Cast: N/A
Year: 1979
The Movie:
Leave it to the late, great Bruno Mattei to hammer out this later entry in the mondo genre. What 1979's Libidomania lacks in human atrocities and real death footage it more than makes up for with its intention of showcasing every perversions known to man. Supposedly based off of scholarly writings on human sexual activity, the film features a stoic narrator who serves as our guide into all things kinky. From there we travel the world to dig on different sexy and not-so-sexy happenings, starting with a man making some quality time with two different Asian women wearing masks that are never explained (and which are probably worn to help disguise the fact that these women could very well be European). We're told this is how it tends to go in Japan and then head swiftly to Africa where various tribes do various things including but not limited to dry humping statues, deflowering young girls, castrating adulterers and things like that.
From here we explore different lifestyles as we witness what looks to be very real footage from a sex change operation (again credited to the Japanese) and then learn about homosexuality for about a minute or so before turning our attentions to the wide world of fetishism. Men get stepped on, dress as babies and suckle tits, peak at women in the bathroom and then play with their poop and engage in golden showers and coprophilia and other delightful activities, all while narrators and expert interviewees inform us as to the how's and why's of this behavior. It all goes downhill from here as we learn how a man's wife can't get off unless she gets plowed by a German Shepherd, learn the in's and out's of voyeurism, watch a man engage in necrophilia and then lay witness to a couple who get off on watching horses fuck before going at it themselves in the barn.
All of this awesome nonsense, the vast majority of which is quite obviously fake though still certainly effective from the 'gross out' perspective, is presented completely straight and very matter-of-fact. Since there's really very little of anything even remotely resembling honest to goodness academia anywhere in the film, this just adds to its whole vibe of surreal sleaze and lends itself to all manner of unintentional hilarity. To the film's credit, much of it is very well shot and even marginally artistic in spots thanks to some atmospheric lighting and camerawork. The film tries rather impressively to pass itself off as a serious expose of sorts, but revels in the debauchery and lingers on the naughty bits with such intent that it falls headfirst into sleaze and exploitation before it even gets started.
Mattei devotees will be amused to see that some of the footage Mattie uses here also shows up in Hell Of The Living Dead (specifically the bits with the tribesmen in their masks). It should be mentioned that this is the longer, stronger German cut of the film that includes all the wacky sex and violence. The Italian cut ran into censorship problems in its home land and was chopped up, replacing much of the racier footage with more tribal stock footage to keep the running time at feature length (see the extras for more on this).
Video/Audio/Extras:
Camera Obscura deserve some sort of award for making this 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer look as good as it does on this DVD. Color reproduction is perfect, there are no compression artifacts and aside from the odd speck here and there, print damage is barely even noticeable. Some of the stock footage inserts look a little bit rougher than the footage shot specifically for the film but that's to be expected. Aside from that, however, the transfer is great.
Audio options are offered up in German and Italian with optional subtitles provided in English and German. Since the version on this DVD is the longer, stronger German cut of the film (which was never dubbed in Italian), expect a good chunk of the film to play out in German if you opt for the Italian language option since there is no Italian language option available for a large part of this cut of the movie. Audio quality is fine, with the narration coming through nice and clearly. Effects and the score are properly balanced and there are no problems to report with any hiss or distortion.
As far as the extra features on this release are concerned, there's a whole lot more here than you'd probably expect given the obscurity of the picture. First up is a commentary track, in German with optional English subtitles courtesy of Christian Kessler and Ingo Strecker. The two deliver some welcome background information on the picture and the people who made it and offer up some insight into the mondo movie genre as a whole. They take things seriously enough to keep the talk interesting but have understandably got a sense of humor about all of this. The commentary is in German with optional English subtitles.
Also included is an interview with Claudio Fragrasso entitled, appropriately enough, Mondo Fragrasso, in which Mattei's esteemed co-collaborator on many projects speaks at length about his work with the late director. Fragrasso, best known for directing Troll 2, covers how he got involved with Mattei, how he came to do a bunch of second unit work on this picture and how he came to be involved with its sequel but he also covers working with Mattei on other films meant to cash in on various cinematic trends of their day. Good natured and very upfront, Fragrasso makes for an interesting interviewee. His interview is conducted in Italian with your choice of English or German subtitles.
Just under forty minutes of alternate scenes from the Italian cut of the film are also included, with optional English or German subtitles, and while sifting through this material it becomes obvious that the German version is the zanier one, it's still great to see this content included. Rounding out the extras is a still gallery and an insert booklet containing English and German language essays on this film and the mondo movement by writer Marcus Stiglegger.
The Final Word:
Anyone with any interest in the sleazier side of the mondo movie spectrum really ought to give this one a shot. Simultaneously sleazy and hilarious, Mattie's 'expose' is so off the wall and illogical that you can't help but love it. Camera Obscura live up to their reputation and offer up the film with a beautiful transfer and an excellent collection of extras, making this one an essential purchase for those with an interest in the material or the enigmatic Mattei.
